Books Read - 2024

January 2024

• The Kingdom, The Power, and The Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism - Tim Alberta (NF)
• Before We Were Yours - Lisa Wingate (F).
• None Greater: The Undomesticated Attributes of God - Matthew Barrett (NF).
• Promise of Blood (The Powder Mage Trilogy, Book 1) - Brian McClellan (F).

February 2024

• All the Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr (F). My daughter was reading this for school and wanted me to read it, too, so I did.  I have seen this recommended in various places, but wasn't really all that interested in yet another WWII historical fiction.  Wow. I would have missed out for sure. It was not at all what I expected and I'm glad I read it, and I've really been enjoying discussing it with my daughter. This was a beautiful book and I loved it, but it did leave me feeling a little melancholy at the end, sort of a bittersweet feeling, so be warned if you want to read it - the ending is very satisfying, but not necessarily "happy," which is true to life, especially in war time. 
• The Book of Lost Things - John Connolly (F). While I mostly liked this book and appreciated the themes examined through the story and the growth arc of the main character, even finding myself tearing up at the final chapter, I don't think it's one I would recommend. It is marketed for ages 11+, and I definitely wouldn't have given it to any of mine at that age, especially not my youngest.  There are several scary elements and disturbing body horror type things that would have really disturbed her at that age. Also, I have a feeling an adult would better be able to appreciate the layers and deeper exploration of loss that permeates it than a child might. Just because a book is about a child of the middle grade age doesn't necessarily mean the book is best suited for a reader of the same age. 
• The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store - James McBride (F).
• The Midnight Library - Matt Haig (F).
• The Deconstruction of Christianity: What it is, Why it's Destructive, and How to Respond - Alisa Childers, Tim Barrett (NF).

March 2024

• The Crimson Campaign (The Powder Mage Trilogy, Book 2) - Brian McClellan (F).
• The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains - Nicholas Carr (NF). One of the most disturbing things I've read - maybe ever.  This depressed me a bit. I have another book addressing this topic from a Christian focus waiting on my Kindle that I will be reading soon which my pastor recommended to me after seeing I had read this one and how it had affected me.  
• The Autumn Republic (The Powder Mage Trilogy, Book 3) - Brian McClellan (F).
• The Unquenchable Flame: Discovering the Heart of the Reformation - Michael Reeves (NF).
• Forsworn: A Powder Mage Novella - Brian McClellan (F).

April 2024

• Digital Liturgies: Rediscovering Christian Wisdom in an Online Age - Samuel D. James (NF).  My pastor recommended this book to me after he saw how disturbed I was after reading The Shallows. It was a perfect recommendation.  Though I still have many of the same concerns I had after reading the first book, this was encouraging, while still sounding a much needed wake up call.  As I said in my post on Facebook about the other book, we Christians are not thinking deeply enough about how the internet is affecting our brains and how we process knowledge and the world around us. We are embodied people, and we need to experience the world as embodied people, with other people, and the internet is a disembodied space, and we need to be careful in this age we are living in. I appreciated this book very much.
• Servant of the Crown: A Powder Mage Novella - Brian McClellan (F).
• Seasons of Sorrow: The Pain of Loss and the Comfort of God - Tim Challies (F).  This book is a treasure.  It has cost Tim Challies greatly, but I believe God will use these words to comfort many. Though not long, this is not a book one can sit and read through all at once.  My own copy is drenched in tears, as I read Tim's honest, often raw, but deeply faith-filled and Christ-honoring labor through the first year of grief following the loss of his son. Many of the hard and anguished questions he is honest enough to leave on the pages are questions I, too, have found myself struggling through and wondering as I work through the grief of my mom's passing, and I am extremely thankful for his willingness to honestly pen them and publish them, as it has helped me to realize I am not alone in the questioning, and not alone in thinking them, and I don't have to feel guilty about them, either, as long as I ultimately entrust them to my loving, all-wise, compassionate Savior. I am sure many people have the same questions and wonderings this side of Heaven. It was not an easy read, but it was a deeply meaningful and worthy read. The theology and deep trust and love for Jesus underpinning his wrestling is something we must all come to grips with now, so that when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, and when we are so broken with grief that we almost cannot breathe and it is almost impossible to see, we can most certainly rest in the Shepherd we know and love, and who so greatly loves His own. I highly recommend it.